Mail-bag delivering and catching apparatus.



PATENTED APR. 25, 1905.

0. G. HOPF. MAIL BAG DELIVERING AND CATGHING- APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.23, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED APR 25, 1905.

0. G. HOPE. MAIL BAG DELIVERING AND GATGHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEOBS, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ton

Witnesses Patented April 25, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

OLIVER GARLAND HOFF, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

MAIL-BAG DELlVERlNG AND CATCHlNG APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 787,983, dated April25, 1905.

Application tiled December 23,1904. Serial No. 238.124.

To 11. 11710111, 7'! 71mg con/c711.-

Be it known that l, OLIVER (1 ARLAND Horn, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented anew and useful Mail-Bag Delivering and Catching Apparatus, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for catching and deliveringmail-bags with respect to a moving train, and has for its object toeffect the transfer of the mail-bags in a simple and eliicient mannerwithout unnecessarily exposing the attendants during the operation ofthe apparatus. It is furthermore designed to provide for attaching themail-bags to the car device within a car and then to effect theprojection of the car device and the bag through the doorway of the carinto operative position without requiring that the attendant expose anyportion of his body at the exterior of the car. In this connection it isproposed to effect automatic locking of the car device in its projectedoperative position, so as to prevent displacement thereof by the rush ofair past the car and to effect automatic releasing of the "ar device andthrowing of the same back into the car by the operation of thestationary catching device in removing a bag from the car device.

A further object of the invention is to automatically withdraw a bagfrom a moving car by the stationary catching device to a pointcomparatively remote from the track and out of the current of airoccasioned by the passing train. for the purpose of preventing themailbag from being swung back against the train and beneath the trucksthereof, as frequently happens with similar devices.

\Vith these and other objects in view the present invention consists inthe combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter morefully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularlypointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes inthe form, proportion, size, and minor details may be made within thescope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing anyof the advantages of the invention.

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of theimproved apparatus in connection with a railway-car. Fig. 2 is anenlarged detail plan section taken through the car-door with theapparatus in position to simultaneously deliver and catch mail-bags.Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of the car device looking outwardly fromthe car. Fig. l is a detail perspective view of a portion of the cardevice. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the catching device which isindependent of the car.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in each andevery figure of the drawings.

ln illustrating the present device there has been shown a portion of amail-car 1, across the doorway of which is mounted the usualsubstantially horizontal rock-bar 2, terminally supported in suitablebearings 3 and 4: upon the door-frame and having a crank-handle 5 forrotating the bar to project and withdraw the arm 6, which inclinesforwardly and outwardly from the rear portion of the bar and is providedat its rear end. where it joins the rock-bar, with a bend or loop 7,which is substantially circular in shape and has a contractedentrance-opening 8 located between the arm 6 and the bar 2, saidcontracted entranceopening being a feature of the present invention, aswill hereinafter appear.

Beneath the catching device and located at the forward side of thedoorway is the delivering device, consisting of a stationary bracket S),secured to the inner side of the car slightly in advance of the doorway,said bracket being provided with upper and lower substantiallyhorizontal arms 10 and 11, whereby the bracket is yoke-shaped. and uponthese arms the Lipper and lower links 12 and 13 are terminally andpivotally mounted so as to swing toward and away from the adjacentdoorpost 14, which latter operates as a stop to limit the outwardswingof said links. A suitable metallic wear-plate 15 is applied to theinner side of the door-post 14 to take the wear of the links. Ayoke-shaped swinging bracket 16 is pivotally supported between the outerfree ends of the links 12 and 13, as indicated at 17 and 1S, and is of alength to swing outwardly and forwardly against the exterior of thedoorpost. The outer end of the lower side of this swinging bracket isprovided with a pendent l substantially L-shaped foot 19, which, as bestindicated in Fig. 4 of the drawings, is provided in its upper side witha longitudinal groove or seat 20, intersecting the outer extremity ofthe foot, there being a substantially U-shaped spring-clip 21 secured tothe front side of the upstanding part of the foot. The upper side of theswinging bracket terminates in an upstanding ear or extension 22 andearries upon its front side a substantially U shaped spring-clip 23,similar to the springclip 21 and in vertical alinement therewith. Uponthe rear side of the ear 22 is a springcatch 24, designed toautomatically snap into engagement with a keeper or catch projection 25upon the outer side of the door-post 14 when the swinging bracket isswung out into its operative position, as indicated in Fig. 2, toprevent accidental displacement of the bracket by the rush of air pastthe train.

The stationary bracket 9 and the swinging bracket 16, connected theretoby the links 12 and 13, constitute a crane for the support of a mail-bagcarrier 26 in the form of a continuous link, one upstanding side, 27, ofwhich is straight, while its opposite outer side, 28, is bowedoutwardly, there being internal bracearms 29 extending from the side 27to the top and bottom sides of the link. In fitting the carrier or linkto the swinging bracket member 16 of the crane the straight side 27 ofthe carrier is snapped into the spring-clips 21 and 23 with the lowerside of the carrier received within the seat 20 of the foot 19, therebeing an annular shoulder or enlargement 30 upon the upper end of thestraight side 27, so as to engage the top of the clip 23, whereby thelink-carrier will be rigidly supported upon the crane, so as to swingoutwardly with the bracket 16 into the operative position shown in Fig.2 of the drawings. By reason of the lower side of the carrier fitting inthe seat 20 of the foot 19 the carrier is held against swingingmovements upon its side 27 as a center, while the shoulder 30, engagingthe top of the clip 23, prevents the carrier from tilting outwardly,while at the same time the carrier may be forcibly drawn outwardly fromthe clips in order that it may be delivered to a stationary receivingdevice mounted at one side of the railway-track in a manner as will nowbe described.

At one side of the track there is erected an elevated platform 31, whichis supported upon an upright post 32, having its upper portion 33 risingcentrally above the platform, there being suitable standards 34, risingfrom basesills 35, to support that end of the platform which is adjacentthe railway-track, access being bad to the other end of the platform bymeans of a ladder or steps 36. A pair of substantially horizontalbrackets 37 project at the front of the platform and carry asubstantially horizontal bar 38, each end portion of which is inclinedrearwardly, as at 39, to form a brace which extends downwardly and isconnected to the post 32 by a suitable fasteningsuch, for instance, as aclip 40*and from this clip the bar inclines upwardly toward therailway-track and away from the platform, as at 41, with its outer end42 extended in a substantially horizontal position away from theplatform and in approximate parallelism with the track to form an armwhich is designed to be received within the bag-carrier 28, which ismounted upon the car, whereby the carrier will be dragged from the trainwithout requiring that the latter be stopped.

In order that a bag may be delivered from the platform to the train, acarrier 26, which is a duplicate of the carrier 26, is supported uponthe post 33 by means of a rotating crane 43, which is in the nature ofan upstanding bar having its opposite ends journaled in brackets44 and45, projected forwardly from the post 43, there being upper and lowerspring-clips 46 and 47, carried by the front of the crane for engagementby the straight side of the carrier in the manner hereinbefore describedfor the car device. The foot-piece 48 is carried by the crane 43 belowthe lower spring-clip 47 and is provided with a seat for the receptionof the lower side of the carrier 26, as described for the foot 19,whereby the carrier 26 is held at substantially right angles to thepassing train in position for the arm 6 of the catching device to enterthe carrier, and thereby drag the latter from the crane 43 into the loopor seat 7 of the catching-arm 6.

In practice the mail-bag 49, which is to be delivered to a passingtrain, has its usual snaphook 50 engaged with the lower side of thecarrier 26, with the bag supported upon the top of the platform and thecarrier disposed at substantially right angles to the railwaytrack,whereby as the train passes the platform the arm 6 will enter thecarrier anddrag the latter and the mail-bag from the platform, the bowedside of the carrier enteringinto the loop or seat 7 of the arm 6. Byreason of the contracted entrance-opening 8 of the seat 7 the carrierwill not be displaced therefrom by the swinging movement of the baguntil the rock-bar 2 can be turned to bring the mailbag Within the car,wherefore it will be understood that this form of loop or seat having acontracted entrance-opening is a very advantageous feature of thepresent invention. While only one bag has been shown connected to thecarrier 26, it will of course be understood that it is possible toconnect several bags to the carrier, and thereby to simultaneouslytransfer or deliver all of them to the passing train.

To transfer or deliver a mail-bag from a passing train, a mail-bag isconnected to the carrier 26 and the car-crane swung outto the positionsindicated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, whereby the carrier islocated in a position to receive the arm 42 of the stationary catchingdevice, and the car-crane and the carrier 26 will thereby be swung fromtheir full-line positions in Fig. 2 to their dotted-line positions, whenthe pull of the car will be placed longitudinally upon the carrier andthe latter will be drawn out of the l spring-clips 21 and 23 withoutinjury thereto, and then the carrier, with the bag, will slide down thegravity-chuteformed by the shank 4C1 of the catcher, thereby toautomatically draw the carrier and the mail-bag away from the train, soas to prevent the mail-bag from being swung back against the side of thecar and drawn in beneath the wheels, as frequently happens.

in setting the car device the carrier 26 is of course engaged with theswinging bracket member 16 of the crane when the latter is within thecar, and then the crane is swung out into the position indicated by fulllines in Fig. 2, whereupon the spring-latch 24: will snap intoengagement with the catch 25, and thereby automatically lock the craneagainst displacement by the current of air passing the car. Thismanipulation of the crane may be accomplished entirely within the car,and therefore the mail clerk need not expose any portion of his body atthe exterior of the car. When the carrier 26 engages the stationarycatcher and removes the carrier therefrom, the initial swinging movementimparted to the crane will automatically swing the latter around to itsfolded dotted-line position in Fig. 2 of the drawings without any manualmanipulation whatsoever, and therefore the mail clerk need not exposehimself to withdraw the crane.

It will now be understood that the cranea3 upon the platform 31 ismounted to rotate in order that the carrier 26 may be drawn in anendwise direction out of the spring-clips l6 and 1 :7 in the mannerdescribed for the car device, and in order that the crane may beyieldably held in the position indicated in Fig. 1 there is aleaf-spring5l secured to the post 33 with its free end bearing against ablock or cam 52, carried by the back of the crane 43, so as to preventrotation of the crane by the rush of air occasioned by the train beforethe catchingarm 6 reaches the carrier 26'.

\Yhile one delivery-crane s3 is suiiicient for delivering a mail bag tothe train, it is of course necessary to have two catchers 42, one ateach side of the platform and extending in opposite directions, so as totake the bags from trains passing in either direction.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that thedelivcring-carriers may be very quickly engaged with the respectivecranes, and there is no possibility of the carriers becoming jammed orinterlocked with the cranes, and therefore a prompt delivery of thecarriers to the catching devices is assured. Moreover, by reason of thedownward and rearward inclination of the shank or standard portion ofthe catcher which receives the carrier from the train said carrier andits mail-bag are quickly and effectually drawn away from the crane, soas to prevent the bag from being swung back into engagement with thecar, and thereby damaged. Another advantage of this invention resides inthe fact that all of the parts of the stationary receiving anddelivering part of the apparatus are located sufficiently remote fromthe track to prevent injury thereby to any of the trainmen, and thereare no verticallyswinging members which are liable to swing down intoclose proximity with the train after a bag has been removed therefrom,as in other catching and delivering devices.

Having fully described the invention, what is claimed is 1. An apparatusof the class described having a car device including a bracket supportedwithin the car at the inner side of the doorframe, a horizontal swingingmember mounted upon the bracket and limited in its movement by thedoor-frame, and a horizontallyswinging bracket carried by the outer endof the pivotally-mounted member and capable of being swung outwardlythrough the doorway of the car, and a mail-bag carrier having adetachable supporting engagement with the swinging bracket.

2. An apparatus of the class described having a car device including abracket mounted within the car, upper and lower links pivotallysupported upon the bracket, ayoke-shaped swinging bracket pivotallysupported upon the outer ends of the links and capable of being swungoutwardly through the car-door, and a bag-carrier havinga detachablesupporting engagement with the swinging bracket.

3. An apparatus of the class described having a car device including acrane mounted within the car and capable of being projected outwardlythrough the door, a bag-carrier having a detachable supportingengagement with the crane, and means to automatically interlock thecrane with one side of the doorframe when the former is projectedoutwardly through the doorway into operative position.

4. An apparatus of the class described having a car device including ahorizontallyswinging crane mounted to be swung outwardly through thedoorway of the car and limited in its swinging movement by thedoorframe, a catch upon the door-frame, a springlatch upon the crane forengagement with the catch in the operative position of the crane, and abagcarrier having a detachable sup porting engagement with the crane.

5. An apparatus of the class described having a bag-carrier to becarried by a train, a carrier-catcher, and a downwardly-inclined chutecommunicating with and leading away from the catcher and upon which thecarrier is adapted to travel after being engaged with the catcher.

6. An apparatus of the class described having a bag-carrying link to becarried by a car, and a link-catching device including an arm to enterthe link and an arm-supporting shank leading from the rear end of thearm and inclined downwardly therefrom and away from the railway-track.

7. An apparatus of the class described including a bag-carrier to beremovably carried by a car, a support at one side of the railwaytrack, arod carried by the support and inclined upwardly toward therailway-track, and a substantially horizontal carrier-catching armcarried by the upper end of the rod, said rod constituting a chute uponwhich the carrier is adapted to travel away from the catching-arm afterbeing engaged therewith.

8. An apparatus of the class described comprising a support erected atone side of a railway-track, an elevated substantially horizontal barcarried by the support with its oppoposite ends inclined downwardly awayfrom the railway-track and connected to the support and then inclinedupwardly toward the railway-track with the extremities of the barextending outwardly in opposite directions in substantial parallelismwith the railwaytrack.

9. In an apparatus of the class described, a crane having a footprovided with a seat in its upper face, vertically-alined substantiallyU-shaped spring-clips carried by the crane above the foot, and abag-carrying link having a straight vertical side for detachableengagement with the spring-clips, the lower side of the link beingformed to removably fit the seat of the foot and the straight side ofthe link having a shoulder to engage the top of the upper spring-clip.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiiXedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

OLIVER GARLAND HOFF.

Witnesses:

LOTTIE BROOKE, ALBERT S. GILL.

